Report: Apple Is Trying To Poach Tesla Engineers with $250K Bonuses

Apple and Tesla apparently have something of a love-hate relationship in the Silicon Valley scene--a mutual admiration that causes the two companies to try to poach employees from one another.

While the Palo Alto, Calif.-based carmaker has hired at least 150 people who formerly worked at Apple, the tech giant has been less successful at sniping engineers from Tesla, according to a Bloomberg report.

The iPhone maker has gone so far as to offer $250,000 signing bonuses and 60 percent boosts to salary, Musk said.

Tesla, which has a workforce of around 6,000, has brought on more employees from Apple than from any other company, hiring them for engineering, law and other areas.

Former Apple executive Doug Field called working for Tesla "an opportunity for me and many others to pursue the dream of building the best cars in the world--while being part of one of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley," as quoted by Bloomberg.

Similar to iconic Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Musk is known "for a mercurial temper and an obsessive attention to detail," Bloomberg reported.

Apple's influence is obvious in the innovative touchscreen display that is practically an iPad embedded in each Tesla. The screen comes from a team of former Apple employees that includes designer Brennan Boblett.

"You try to design it so that it requires not a whole lot of thinking," freelance design consultant Joe Nuxoll, who has worked at both Apple and Tesla, told Bloomberg. "It's more like an iPhone than a Ford."

Apple recently inspired rumors that the Cupertino-based company was dabbling in self-driving car technology when vans equipped with camera equipment were spotted in the Bay Area, according to AppleInsider. The mysterious vehicles, which have been seen in San Francisco, New York and even Wisconsin and Hawaii, are likely collecting data for Apple Maps.